National Happy IT Pro Day (and Happy National Cheeseburger Day!)

Business Speak

Live from SolarWinds EmpowerMSP 2018 in Scottsdale AZ, I want to share some left to right visibility from Day One of this annual confab.

National Happy IT Pro Day. SolarWinds MSP deftly created a business holiday that got legs – right out of the “unmarketing” philosophy. This trending event

has been expanded to also include Tech Pro Day.

solarwindsexecbriefing

Fig 1 – The private executive briefing – where the “good stuff” is spoken.

One SolarWinds. Lemme provide some context here. SolarWinds has unashamedly grown strategically by acquisition. In a private executive briefing session, the SolarWinds leadership team affirmed there is more of that coming. Gotta hand it to them – their vision is clear and they are not confused. Grow baby grow! Here is the challenge with the old acquisition grow and go game plan: integration. So the team imparted insights into the One SolarWinds initiative. There are two pillars: Technical and Business.

Technical. The technical side is assumed. SolarWinds Empower18, in my humble opinion, leads with geek. The sessions, the attendee demographic, etc. The SolarWinds MSP portfolio is an combination of technical turnkey tools to run an MSP practice. SolarWinds MSP is a platform company. Bottom line: SolarWinds partners like solving technical problems.

Business. There was a big emphasis on the MSP Institute with business speak resources and an interactive community.  The thrust is on being a successful MSP. Double-clicking one layer deeper – the focus was on finding a niche or specialization – a point emphasized in the executive briefing session.

Thinking. One takeaway was that SolarWinds engineering is focused on thinking about people who have to use the technology.

Day Two Coming…look for the following…

Un-marketing dude. As I write this, I’m all giggles listening to the keynote from Scott Stratten – President of Un-Marketing and well received author/speaker.

The Rest of the Story

And as I often do – here is the PR fluff from the PR team – threat management.

SolarWinds MSP Launches SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Program 

Program Is Designed to Expand the Market Opportunity for MSPs to Deliver Managed Security Services in Partnership with SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Providers

Scottsdale, AZ  – September 18, 2018 (live from Empower MSP) – SolarWinds MSP, a global leader in delivering comprehensive, scalable IT service management solutions to IT solution providers and managed service providers (MSPs), today announced the launch of the SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Program. The new offering builds on SolarWinds® Threat Monitor™ with outsourced security operations center (SOC) services delivered via SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Providers.

Threat Monitor is designed to help reduce the complexity of threat detection for IT operations teams as well as for MSPs and MSSPs (managed security service providers). The unified platform includes automated threat detection, active response to security incidents, and audit-ready reports.  The SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Program is designed to support MSPs who have purchased Threat Monitor, but prefer to partner with one of the SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Providers (TMSPs) to deliver tandem managed security services to their customers.

“MSPs are already doing security basics on the protection front; however, they don’t necessarily want to become full MSSPs, even though there is a growing market demand for detection- and remediation-focused security,” stated Tim Brown, vice president of security, SolarWinds. “This is where the SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Program comes into play. It’s designed to give our customers the chance to partner with SolarWinds TMSPs to deliver the types of 24/7 SOC services that are becoming more paramount.”

Falanx Group and Secuvant serve as the program’s inaugural TMSPs. Falanx Group, based in London, brings more than 20 years of experience in security and SOC services to the program, serving a wide range of vertical sectors with a complete portfolio of security services. Secuvant, which has built its business around the principle that Cyber Risk is Business Risk™, is focused on providing business-driven cybersecurity solutions to the SMB market.

“We are delighted to serve as one of the first SolarWinds TMSPs,” stated Mike Read, chairman and CEO, Falanx Group. “We have been serving MSPs for some time, and their clients trust them to bring a wealth of experience to the table when it comes to managing their IT landscapes; we are looking forward to helping the SolarWinds MSP community bolt on more robust security services with the potential for them to more easily benefit from the increased market demand for those services.”

“The SMB is our sweet spot, so becoming a SolarWinds TMSP made perfect sense to us,” stated Ryan Layton, CEO, Secuvant. “The threat landscape is rapidly changing, and MSPs need a way to more easily meet the escalating need for full-on SOC services for companies of all sizes. SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service fills that gap and is a great opportunity for both the participating MSP and us, as a partner.”

MSPs who choose to take advantage of the new SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service Program will leverage the SolarWinds TMSP’s security expertise and trained staff for a range of services, including initial assessment and onboarding, deployment of Threat Monitor and 24/7 continuous monitoring and alerts, incident analysis, and—when needed—remediation. SolarWinds TMSPs meet a rigid set of criteria, including recognized certifications, such as CISSP and CEH, Threat Monitor product expertise, and MSP market experience.

To learn more about SolarWinds Threat Monitoring Service, please visit: https://pages.solarwindsmsp.com/sw-threat-monitor-cybersecurity.html

About SolarWinds MSP

SolarWinds is a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT infrastructure management software. Our products give organizations worldwide, regardless of type, size, or IT infrastructure complexity, the power to monitor and manage the performance of their IT environments, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid models. We continuously engage with all types of technology professionals—IT operations professionals, DevOps professionals, and managed service providers (MSPs)—to understand the challenges they face maintaining high-performing and highly available IT infrastructures.

Targeted for MSPs, the SolarWinds MSP product portfolio delivers broad, scalable IT service management solutions that integrate layered security, collective intelligence, and smart automation. Our products are designed to enable MSPs to provide highly effective outsourced IT services for their SMB end customers and more efficiently manage their own businesses. Learn more today at solarwindsmsp.com